The Unseen Servant forums

Yay! Math nerd to the rescue!

Zhym wrote:Arthfael
"Kiri, step west," he says. "Everyone else, make way for her or stay put."

...If Inferno is using actual fulcrum force calculations, then Zahra moving 2.5' to the west should be enough to shift the balance...

Fyi, there's a minor typo above. You call Kiri a "her." Then mention that Zahra (not Kiri) is moving west. Please correct your IC post when you get the chance.
Thanks!

There's a use of the Detect Balance spell I never thought I'd see.

Zhym wrote:Arthfael obviously wouldn't be able to do math in 6 seconds, or know everyone's exact weight, but he can look at everyone, which we obviously can't do. So I hope you'll pardon the math.

No problem at all! You know each other well at this point. Arthfael knows that Kiri and Soruk are giants, Mako is slight of build, Garrin is carrying Roan's skeleton, Zahra has iron armor, etc., etc., etc.

Zhym wrote:Also, I'm assuming that if this is a balancing thing, Inferno is just comparing the weights on each side, not the weights and the distance from the center, because that would be...well, not *that* messy, but probably more math than Inferno wants to do.

At the risk of giving away that it is a fulcrum, I did account for distance too with a simplified multiplier to the weight at 10' increments from the center. Once everyone huddled near the center, at Mako's request, it became the straight up weight.

DadsAngry wrote:There's a use of the Detect Balance spell I never thought I'd see.

Inferno wrote:Yay! Math nerd to the rescue!

Zhym wrote:Arthfael
"Kiri, step west," he says. "Everyone else, make way for her or stay put."

...If Inferno is using actual fulcrum force calculations, then Zahra moving 2.5' to the west should be enough to shift the balance...

Fyi, there's a minor typo above. You call Kiri a "her." Then mention that Zahra (not Kiri) is moving west. Please correct your IC post when you get the chance.
Thanks!

Oh, right. He, not she.

The thing with Zahra is based on a different assumption about the mechanics. Assuming distance doesn't matter, Kiri shifting west (and everyone making room for her) is the easiest way to shift the balance quickly but not too extremely. If everyone's effect on the balance is weight x distance, then Zahra moving 2.5' to the west will shift the balance if everyone else stays put.

If the mechanic is weight x distance where "distance" is which square someone is standing on...well, a small shift can make a huge difference, so I'm not sure what to do with that. Right now, the balance is 678 lbs west vs. 812 lbs east. If Zahra steps over to the next block west, her weight gets multiplied by 10 in the calculation and suddenly it's 2300 lbs vs. 812 lbs! So, maybe someone lighter could step east, and...well, it gets messy.

Also, I'm sort of assuming people listen to Arthfael and do what he suggests. Garrin and Mako are already on record as running west, but there are people in their way and they can barely make it to the other side of the fulcrum anyway.

The best way to balance the teeter-totter under the mechanics you stated is for Arthfael and Kiri to swap places. That will result in a very slight 7.5 lb tilt to the west. Can I update my post to have Arthfael suggest that?

Zhym wrote:Also, I'm sort of assuming people listen to Arthfael and do what he suggests.

As always, anyone can suggest actions to others, but everyone is in charge of their own PC's actions.

Zhym wrote:Can I update my post to have Arthfael suggest that?

Yes.

Thanks. It seems others have more brute-force solutions in mind.

BTW, I don't follow your math on the angle of the floor. My trig is incredibly rusty, but I get a different answer than your 26˚. The tilting floor is 60' long, right? And each end is currently 7.5 feet off the horizontal? If so, I have the floor at a 14.5˚ angle:
Not to scale.

Am I missing something?

ETA: Now I see what's going on. The angle is about 14.5˚. The grade is about 26%.

If you folks say so.

I thought Zhym was a lawyer and not a mathematician!

I'm a lawyer with an undergrad math/CS degree. Sooo nerdy.

Enlarge is my new favorite spell!

When I say 'favorite', I mean a distant second after 'Fireball' of course

What if you cast Enlarge on a Fireball?

Ok, it's been three days. I'm moving it along.

Oracle, I had Loche follow the majority west. If that was wrong of me, let me know and I can back call it. Thanks.

The wording for the damage against the skeletons has me concerned.

Does it actually seem like they are being injured slightly from our blows?

Or, am I just being paranoid?

OGRE MAGE wrote:Does it actually seem like they are being injured slightly from our blows?

Or, am I just being paranoid?

Yes and Yes.

Thanks! (I think)

wordoftheoracle wrote:Loche heads toward the undead beasties weilding his bone dagger.

Hi oracle,
You might have forgotten that Loche recovered a magic dagger that is +1/+2 vs undead from the bygone massacre of the Sutekh worshippers.

Hey oracle,
I assumed Loche would use the magic dagger.

Zhym wrote:Arthfael
Attacking from second rank, if possible:
Spear (THAC0 20): [1d20+1] = 1+1 = 2 [1d6] = 6 (S/M) / [1d8] = 1 (L)

I'll allow it, but it must be two handed use, so no shield and we'll say he placed his lantern on the floor nearby.
Lucky for Loche this game doesn't have crit fumbles!

Speaking of which, how does everyone feel about critical hits and fumbles? Should this game have them? The Hyborian Age is certainly savage enough to justify them. I'm interested in everyone's thoughts.

Having rolled a 1 on that attack, I'm glad we weren't using fumbles.